NEW YORK: Twitter has announced a slate of over 30 new video deals, including a slew of live shows, among which an agreement with Formula 1 and an expanded content deal with ESPN being the notable ones from the sports arena.
On top of this, Twitter has divulged details of activations in gaming, news and entertainment.
Formula 1: F1 fans will now be able to access a post-race show exclusively live on Twitter, featuring highlights, analysis, and interviews. Starting with the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13 and continuing for a further nine rounds of the 2018 championship, each show will be hosted by leading motorsport journalist Will Buxton alongside a number of the sport’s legends.
ESPN:
SportsCenter Live: Offering breaking news through Twitter’s Moments feature and video with @SCLive, a Twitter take on ESPN’s flagship program and an extension of its popular @SportsCenter handle that reaches more than 35 million sports fans.
Fantasy Focus Live: ESPN’s most popular fantasy sports podcast will now also be live streamed daily on Twitter. Each morning, fantasy experts Matthew Berry, Field Yates, Stephania Bell and Daniel Dopp will provide player previews, injury reports, game overviews and strategies, as well as featured guests and interviews, throughout the football season. The show will take fan questions and opinions, and engage the Twitter audience using key football moments and social content.
MLB: In addition to the recently announced weekly live stream MLB game and highlights package, MLB will live stream a new show on Twitter around the MLB All-Star Game and Postseason.
MLS: Off the heels of a new three-year partnership that features live streamed MLS matches, highlights, and live halftime shows on the platform, Twitter will host the 2018 MLS Homegrown Game. The annual showcase of top, young MLS academy talent will be live streamed on the social networt and will feature a live halftime show as part of the 2018 MLS All-Star festivities.
Bleacher Report: Bleacher Report is bringing House of Highlights LIVE to Twitter. With millions of followers, House of Highlights will feature athletes and celebrities joining HoH founder Omar for an inside look into what it takes to breakthrough online.
The Players’ Tribune: #Verified returns for the second straight season, featuring some of the top draft prospects in both the NFL and NBA sharing their insight, reactions and takes on topics on and off the field. Driven by Twitter and fan-submitted questions, the show is a forum for athletes to connect directly with fans.
Barstool Sports: Barstool Live is an 8-episode series exclusively on Twitter featuring live, original content from top sporting events across the US. Each 30-minute episode will feature hosts Pat McAfee, Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter along with a rotating roster of Barstool’s top talent and special guests live onsite.
Gaming:
Call of Duty World League: The Call of Duty World League will deliver highlights and Championship Sunday from each of the remaining events in its record-setting season schedule, which features the best Call of Duty esports teams from around the world competing for a $4.2 million prize pool. Broadcast includes highlights and finals from CWL Anaheim Open (June 15-17), CWL Pro League- Stage 2 Playoffs (July 27-29), and the 2018 Call of Duty Championship (August 15-19).
The Game Awards: For the third year in a row, the video game and esports industry’s biggest awards show will broadcast live on Twitter this December. Produced by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards recognizes the best games and esports of the year alongside world premiere new game announcements and musical performances.
Gamespot: Advertised as the number one destination for gamers, Gamespot will stream daily live video from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and San Diego Comic-Con.
IEM: Building upon last year’s global live streaming partnership, Twitter and ESL will continue capturing all the action from the flagship event series Intel Extreme Masters with more than 700 hours of live streaming programming and highlight clips in 2018.
IGN: E3 is the biggest week of the year for video games and IGN does E3 in a big way. IGN will stream more than 30 hours from downtown Los Angeles over six days. Live E3 coverage will include all the action from the show floor, every major platform and publisher press event, IGN hosted pre and post shows with up to the minute analysis from our expert personalities, exclusive live game demos, and the biggest names in video games from the IGN stage.
“Twitter is the only place where conversation is tied to video and the biggest live moments, giving brands the unique ability to connect with leaned in consumers who are shaping culture,” said Twitter Global VP of Revenue and Content Partnerships Matthew Derella. “That’s our superpower.”
Twitter, which announced that daily video views have nearly doubled in the past year, added new content to its offering of live and on demand original programming, games, and events. Programs dedicated to topics like women’s empowerment and communities like Black Twitter were introduced to complement the rich conversation about these movements on the platform.
“We’re not guessing, we’re listening. People tell us what they want to see with the conversations they share on Twitter,” said Twitter’s Global head of Content Partnerships Kay Madati. “In the past year, we’ve really expanded our efforts with the best publishers and content creators in the world to bring a slate of programming that reflects those diverse content interests.”
Twitter also announced new solutions for advertisers, including original content with digital creators and an in-house solution designed to help brands maximize their own creative efforts on Twitter.
Creator Originals: Niche, Twitter’s creator network, will be working with the best creators in the community to create premium, original content series on Twitter and pairing them with leading brands for in-stream video sponsorships. These video content offerings will consist of scripted original series.
Live Brand Studio: A new service designed to help brands maximize their own live content efforts, Twitter’s full-service team will work with brands to determine the best content to showcase, develop a media plan that targets the right audience, provide dedicated technical support, tools to share show clips, real-time analytics, and more.
